Maestro card in Belgium: what replaces it

Belgian banks have not issued Maestro cards since 1 July 2023. The one still in your wallet works until its expiry date, then your bank replaces it with a Debit Mastercard or a Visa Debit, still carrying the Bancontact logo. The bank charges nothing for the swap.

What is a Maestro card?

Maestro is the debit brand Mastercard launched in 1991. In Belgium it almost never existed on its own: it sat on the back or in a corner of the Bancontact card (Bancontact being the Belgian domestic payment scheme) and took over whenever Bancontact was not enough. A withdrawal in Lisbon, a toll in France, a tank of fuel in Germany: that was Maestro.

A Belgian debit card therefore carries two brands. Bancontact handles payments inside the country. The second, international brand works everywhere else. The current replacement only affects that second brand.

Why is the Maestro card disappearing?

Because it was designed for a world where you paid by inserting a card into a terminal. Maestro generally requires the chip to be read and declines manually keyed card numbers, which makes it unusable on a large share of online shops. Mastercard set the date: since 1 July 2023, every debit card requested or renewed comes without Maestro.

The scale of the job is counted in cards. About ten million Maestro cards were in circulation in Belgium in spring 2023, according to figures Mastercard released on 23 May 2023, and 60 to 70% of Belgians then had no other card for their purchases. The group gave itself five years at most to replace them all.

Time is getting short. Test-Achats, the Belgian consumer organisation, states that Maestro stays active until the end of 2027: on 10 October 2026, that leaves less than fifteen months.

Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit: which bank chose which?

You do not get to choose. Your bank signed with one of the two networks, and both cards do the same job: immediate debit from the current account, a 16-digit number, a security code on the back. I have listed the choice announced by eight institutions and, as always on this site, the annual cost of the current account the card is issued on.

Choice of network: Test-Achats and Mastercard press release of 23 May 2023, checked on 10 October 2026. Annual account costs: fee schedules recorded between 29 September and 5 October 2026.

Fintro and Hello bank! follow BNP Paribas Fortis. Crelan, bpost bank, Europabank, CPH and vdk bank took Visa Debit; Beobank, Nagelmackers and Deutsche Bank took Debit Mastercard. Of the eight rows in the table, five carry a Mastercard and two a Visa, with Revolut issuing either.

The ING row comes with a caveat. The bank was on Mastercard's list in May 2023 but had given Test-Achats no date, and I have found no public timetable since. The logo printed on your card settles the question more reliably than any press release.

Can you pay online with a Maestro card?

On a Belgian website, yes, through Bancontact. On a foreign website, rarely.

Three digits are the obstacle. KBC says it plainly on its help page: debit cards bearing the Maestro logo have no CVC code, whereas a Debit Mastercard purchase requires the card number, the expiry date and that code. A US website, an Asian airline or a ticketing platform that does not show the Bancontact button asks for exactly those three details. The Belgian Maestro card could not provide them, and the buyer fell back on a credit card, annual fee included.

The new card fixes this. Belfius states that more than 80 million merchants worldwide accept its Debit Mastercard, and specifies that the CVC code is mostly used with merchants that go through neither the card reader nor itsme (the Belgian digital identity app), "for example certain American websites".

Your situation, case by case

The last case is not hypothetical. Replacing ten million cards gives fraudsters a perfect pretext, and Test-Achats has warned since 2023 about fake messages that invoke it.

Is Bancontact disappearing too?

No.

The Bancontact logo stays on the new card, payments in Belgian shops still run through it, and the app does not change. Neobanks are the exception: neither Revolut nor N26 offers Bancontact, which is still a problem with merchants that accept only that brand, a point covered in our article on N26 in Belgium.

Does the new card cost more?

As a rule, no. Test-Achats notes that banks should not charge anything for the replacement, and Belfius writes that its Debit Mastercard is priced the same as the old Bancontact and Maestro card. Fees abroad have not moved either: the exchange margin and the withdrawal fee depend on the bank's fee schedule, not on the logo. A €150 payment in dollars still costs €2.75 at Belfius and €4.67 at BNP Paribas Fortis, according to our survey of non-euro card fees dated 29 September 2026.

Three checks when the new card arrives

• The logo in the corner: Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit, with the word "debit", which some car rental companies and hotels read before accepting a deposit.
• The three-digit CVC code on the back, to be given only on a payment page, never by phone or by message.
• The payment and withdrawal limits in the app: as a rule they stay the same as on the old card, but this is the moment to adjust them.

The brand on the card says nothing about the price of the bank that issues it. Between an account at €0 and an account at €46.80 a year, the debit card is the same. Our ranking of Belgian banks gives the annual cost bank by bank, the comparison tool puts two side by side, and whether to keep a credit card on top is covered in debit card vs credit card.

Sources

• Test-Achats, Suppression de Maestro sur les cartes bancaires (in French): issuance ended 1 July 2023, Maestro active until the end of 2027, network chosen bank by bank, free replacement, withdrawal pricing on separate Debit Mastercard cards. Accessed 10 October 2026.
• Test-Achats, Carte Visa Debit chez BNP Paribas Fortis (in French): about 5,000 terminals out of 300,000 affected by refusals. Published 23 September 2021.
• Wikipedia, Maestro (debit card): launched in 1991, card must be read, Belgian timeline by bank. Accessed 10 October 2026.
• Wikifin (FSMA, the Belgian financial markets regulator), Cartes de débit et de crédit à l'étranger (in French): unblocking debit cards outside Europe. Page updated 17 February 2025.
• The Brussels Times, Maestro bank cards will gradually disappear in Belgium from July: about ten million cards, transition of five years at most. Published 24 May 2023.
• Mastercard, press release on the replacement of Maestro in Belgium (in French): issuing banks, share of Belgians holding only a Maestro card. Dated 23 May 2023.
• KBC, Where to find your card number (in French): 16-digit number, 3-digit CVC code, no CVC on Maestro cards. Accessed 10 October 2026.
• Belfius, Debit Mastercard (in French): same price as the old card, more than 80 million merchants, use of the CVC. Accessed 10 October 2026.